Review: 71016 Kwik-E-Mart

The KwiK-E-Mart (71016) is the second set in the The Simpsons theme. Let’s see how it stacks up as modular building.

This review is a modular conversion review, which means it is done from the perspective of how it can be converted to a modular building and how far the set will take you as a parts pack for a modular building.*

A big thank you to TLG’s Community Support team for providing the set for this review!

The box is not only huge (and too big for me to photograph properly), it is jam-packed with parts bags, loose plates and the instructions. There is a nice collection of 8×16 plates, including six in Sand Blue, which will make great floor plates for an MOC:

You’ll notice that there are a lot of stickers in this set. I’ve chosen not to apply them. As many are so specific to the The Simpsons theme, applying the stickers would probably mean that I am unlikely to use the parts again. Not because I don’t like The Simpsons, I’m just not likely to build in that theme as an MOC.

Let’s take a closer look at all the parts in this massive set.

Bag 1 is dominated by car parts, although there are some interesting special plates and bricks with extra knobs. The 2×3 white doors will also come in handy as cupboard doors.

The things that stood out for me in Bag 2 were the 4×6 plates in Sand Blue, Light Bluish Grey door frames, yummy Dark Pink cheese slopes and the two Squishee cups! There is also a collection of printed newspaper and magazine tiles.

Bag 3 has one of those new(ish) bowl pieces in Magenta, two sacks in Black, and plates and brackets for SNOT work. There are quite a few useful pieces in Dark Bluish Grey, including plates with door rails, new style jumper plates, door frames and inverse tiles.

The highlight from Bag 4 were the plain Blue doors and the printed ring pull tiles for the soda cans. There were also lots of Medium Blue bricks and more door frames in Light Bluish Grey.

There were also quite a few Medium Blue parts in Bag 5, as well as parts for doing SNOT work, printed tiles (including donuts!!!) and printed chocolate milk 1×1 bricks.

Bag 6 was all about the Dark Orange Roof tiles. Marge’s skirt is presumably in the little cardboard box.

Bag 7 was dominated by pieces to fit out the store and stock up the shelves, which meant lots of great printed pieces. This included 1×1 round tiles with strawberry, biscuit and lolly patterns.

Bag 8 was somewhat of a mixed bag, but definitely dominated by Dark Orange roof tiles.

When you look at the parts as a whole, there are a lot of panels and 2xX bricks. The following images of the Medium Blue parts, Dark Orange roof tiles and Yellow bricks and panels give a better sense of how much of each of these colours is found in the set.

Unfortunately, the issue with the 1×3 bricks in Medium Blue being a slightly different colour is also present in this set. While it is not so evident in the finished build, it may be an issue if used as a main wall in an MOC.

This is what the set looks like built according to the instructions:

The thing that immediately caught my attention when the set images were first released was the amount of interior detailing and the printed parts. It doesn’t disappoint in real life! I really like how the shelving is done and the Squishee machine is just perfect. The other details that caught my eye were the wheels on the industrial bins and the public pay phones. Also, it is much bigger than I had realised.

This brings us to the modular conversion part of the review.

For this conversion, I wanted to keep the look and feel of the original model, as well as the public pay phones and also the area that houses the industrial bin. I tried a few different potential layouts including a corner option and one with an alley. However, I ended up ditching the area for the industrial bin as I couldn’t make it happen in a way that made sense in terms of having the back door from the shop open to where the bin was housed.

Given the size of this set, I limited myself to just the pieces in the official set. The only exception was two additional 1×2 technic bricks in Tan to meet the modular standard.

Here is my first version of the modularised Kwik-E-Mart:

I liked this one because it gave lots of interior floor space to work with, as well as a store room at the back. However, having the store room sticking out at the back made for an awkward roof shape, which kept falling apart into two pieces.

I removed the store room for the second version of the modularised Kwik-E-Mart:

I had to give up some counter space and do some internal re-arranging so that the back door was nearer the counter and not as accessible to the public. However, I don’t mind this layout and it has a much more stable roof!

I was a little smarter in this version about the use of tiles at the top of the walls to free up the 3×4 tiles with studs for the front footpath.

I also tried a 16-stud version, which I’ve called the Mini-Mart:

This one required a bit more rearranging on the front, with both the front door and main shop signing needing to be shortened. The train bases that the removable roof sits on also had to go, and the internal part of the roof is no longer removable.

I kept the wall of fridges as this was one of my favourite parts. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Simpsons modular without donuts and the Squishee machine, so those two also had to stay.

In summary, I think the Kwik-E-Mart (71016) is a great set for parts, especially printed parts for stocking up your MOC grocery store. It also provides a great base for ideas for food and drink machines, arcade games and shelving.

It can also be easily converted to a 16-stud or 32-stud wide modular single story modular building. There were enough bricks and plates to create another floor for a 16-stud version; however, the lack of windows is a limiting factor. I started this facade for an additional floor, but wasn’t really able to take it further:

The Kwik-E-Mart has a sufficient number of roof tiles to allow you to build a decent sized roof and I am sure we will be seeing a few MOC Spanish villas turning up soon. I pulled out some parts from my collection to try out some colour combinations:

I quite like the one in the middle with the masonry bricks. Which one is your favourite?

I hope you enjoyed the review! Comments and suggestions always welcome.

These conversion reviews are a great idea. I’d never seriously considered getting a Kwik-E-Mart, but now that it could fit in my Lego city block, I just might. Fantastic design! I really like adding smaller 16 stud buildings to break up the pattern of the modulars a bit more.

Great 16 wide conversion Kristel. There are two things I would have done different. I would have kept the “E” in the sign and removed most of the white parts instead. The other thing I would change is the window above the door. I would either reverse the panel, try to rotate the panel 90 degrees, or make the window 3 studs wide.

Thanks for the suggestions, Vincent. I must admit that I also thought I should have changed the panels above the window. The idea I had was to have them side by side … to then reverse them would be better still.

Some day I’ll also make a modularized version of the Kwik-E-Mart – probably 32-wide, with one or two other floors above it. Though I’m not sure about their details yet. (I’m also waiting for a little discount before I’ll get this set, so it might take a while…)

Hello Kristel, DIY setup. Do you also use a white cardboard for the bottom? What are the dimensions? I’m also planning on taking photos of my MOCs using your method but can’t quite get the hang of it. Thanks.

In response to ottid888, it is a DIY setup for the shots. Nothing fancy, just the biggest piece of white cardboard I could find at the art supply store, filtered natural light and a point and shoot camera.